LAST CALL for Hector Elizondo screening

Actor HECTOR ELIZONDO is best known for his roles as the hotel manager in PRETTY WOMAN and the bodyguard in THE PRINCESS DIARIES. He's currently on the new CBS drama CANE co-starring Jimmy Smits and Rita Moreno. Don't miss your opportunity to see Hector in person during the filmmaker Q&A at a screening of LIMON: A LIFE BEYOND WORDS. Oct. 3rd. Hollywood Fine Arts Theatre. Free with RSVP at www.ScreenplayLab.com.

Thank You West Hollywood Book Fair...

Thank you to our booth volunteers MARYANN BIEWENER, JIM McCAFFRE and GAYLE WATSON and to our member authors Dennis Neder, Mel Gilden, David Isaac, Denise Roman, Robert Davenport, Lena Nozizwe, Martha Tucker, Ora Munter, Gayl Murphy, and DMA (Donna Michelle Anderson).

Thank you to all the participants in my IMPROV SCREENWRITING workshop at the book fair. We had a blast writing an episode of ATHIEST JOHOVAH'S WITNESS, a Jehovah's Witness who makes his living as a door-to-door salesman and is torn by his disbelief in God...a comedy the group brainstormed on the spot. Everyone contributed a story location and character archetypes (some characters had to be upgraded from sterotypes). Together we chose a setting (a mother-in-law's house), a reluctant hero (John, the athiest Johavah's Witness), a sidekick (Samantha, an angry Girl Scout), a villan (George, a gay pirate) and two supporting characters (Uni, an unfaithful daughter-in-law, and a psychic dog).

Then in my workshop I described a dozen scenes for our show, in order, following a typical story arc. For instance, in scene one our hero John arrives at the house and asks to be let inside. As I did that I went around the room assigning a scene to each writer. With this type of minimal description, each writer then quickly wrote and performed a scene. We came up with a show idea, broke the story, wrote a 22-minute episode, and performed it all in one session. What fun! Everyone did an excellent job. Congratulations!

While at the book fair I ran into STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION actor Wil Wheaton. He's a big Linux software fan. I'm known as a Linux expert, and we've spoken at the same Linux event in Pasadena. Wil was signing his new comic book, STAR TREK THE MANGA, published by TokyoPop. See Wil's blog at http://wilwheaton.typepad.com.

Special thanks to Roz Helfand and Cory Roskin of the City of West Hollywood for inviting ScreenplayLab to participate and for asking me to teach a workshop. And most of all, thank you to ScreenplayLab co-founder Gabrielle Pantera who kept everything running smoothly with our booth at the West Hollywood Book Fair.

Kudos to JIM McCAFFREE...

ScreenplayLab member Jim McCaffree, who was out this weekend helping us in the booth, will be in a co-starring role in an upcoming episode of the new ABC sitcom CARPOOLERS. Jim is one of dozens of actors who signed with an agent after getting a ScreenplayLab referral. When Jim signed with the Sanger Talent Agency he wasn't a member of SAG. Jim's agent Karl Sanger is also my agent. You can see Jim McCaffree playing live in the murder mystery theater THE DINNER DETECTIVE. www.DinnerDetective.com

Kudos to ABIGAIL MARIE YOUNG...

ScreenplayLab member Abigail Marie Young is back in MY NAME IS EARL as as a chubby stripper.

Kudos to JANICE KENNEDY...

ScreenplayLab member Janice Kennedy won a "Spirit of Moondance" award for Best Short Screenplay for her script about Mary Shelley called Shadows Round the Moon at the Moondance Film Festival. Her screenplay about the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, The Last Hanging in Pike County, is a quarterfinalist in the Slamdance competition.

WIF Entertainment Forum 2007 on Oct. 6-7th...

Women In Film presents a weekend of panels, cocktail chats and networking with entertainment veterans and decision makers. Business Leadership Awards Luncheon honoring ICM talent agent IRIS GROSSMAN and Sundance Institute feature film program founding director MICHELLE SATTER. InterContinental, 2151 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, Oct. 6th and 7th for $225, Saturday-only $150, Sunday-only $75. 310.657.5144 www.wif.org.

ScreenplayLab Mixer on Oct. 8th...

Our next Beverly Hills industry mixer is on Monday Oct. 8th from 6pm-9pm. Fifty people came to our last mixer. Free with RSVP at www.ScreenplayLab.com.

LIAR LIAR screenwriter on Oct. 14th...

ScreenplayLab presents writer Paul Guay who Paul Guay co-wrote the screenplay for LIAR LIAR, THE LITTLE RASCALS, and HEARTBREAKERS, The Little Rascals. On Sunday, Oct. 14th, 3-6pm. And during the same event, an actors reading with audience feedback of fresh pages from the new martial arts comedy screenplay BOOK OF Z by Robin Rowe. Raleigh Studios, 5300 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. Free with RSVP at www.ScreenplayLab.com.

What's ScreenplayLab?

ScreenplayLab is more than 2,000 screenwriters, actors, and filmmakers. Robin Rowe and Gabrielle Pantera, the founders of ScreenplayLab, are writer-producers developing projects based on best-selling novels. For more than two years, we've been hosting weekly ScreenplayLab events in Hollywood. We host workshops, industry mixers, and present talks with industry VIPs.

Three dozen actors and many writers have signed agent representation as a result of ScreenplayLab. Variety reported that a screenplay read in ScreenplayLab's actors workshop has been set up as a $20M feature. To enter a script to be considered for ScreenplayLab's workshop series costs $39. There are no membership dues for ScreenplayLab and events are free. To join send an email to info@screenplaylab.com with the subject 'Subscribe'.

Love you guys!